Ferrari's junior prodigy Charles Leclerc has revealed some fans who watched him race in Formula 1 at Monaco for the first time were confused by his lack of competitiveness.

Having won GP3 and F2 at his first attempt the past two years, the Monegasque is having to almost start from the bottom in the premier motorsport series with a Sauber team that finished bottom of the Constructors' Championship last year.

However, unaware of how divided the F1 grid is with the top three teams and the rest, to see Charles struggling outside the top 10 wasn't what they were expecting.

 “A lot of people were pushing me and that was great,” Leclerc told RaceFans. “But I also realised a lot of people were following F1 for the first time and they didn’t really get that at the moment I cannot win the races for now.

“So people were like ‘oh, you are P14 in quali, you should be pole’. Then it’s difficult to explain because for the people who are not properly into the sport they can’t really understand.

“They pushed me and I had massive support so that was great. But you realise that people that are not watching F1 are not really understanding that there’s a lot more than only the driver and that the car [makes] a big difference."

The 20-year-old has made an impact in his rookie season, scoring points in Baku and Barcelona before brake failure ultimately saw him crash out in Monte Carlo.

In the build-up to becoming the first driver from the Principality to race since 1994 though, several big names including Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg hailed him as the future star to watch.

"It feels amazing to have these four drivers speak of me that way, saying positive things, is crazy. It’s always very special to hear these positive things," he told Motorsport.com

"On the other hand I try to not listen to it too much, focus on the job. I still have a lot I can improve on.

"When I’m out of the car, I have very big respect for them and it’s an honour to hear that. When I’m in the car, when I have the helmet on, I don’t think about anyone. These things disappear and the drivers that are there are just any drivers."

Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli claim they are willing to introduce a radically different and technologically advanced product into the sport as part of a new contract from 2020.

The Italian company has had a somewhat rollercoaster time in the sport since taking over from Bridgestone in 2011 with the high degradation compounds they used until 2016 often coming under scrutiny and then a feeling that they went too far the other way in 2017 when a new wider tyre proved very durable.

Now, with their current contract expiring at the end of next year and as new F1 owners Liberty Media look to overhaul the regulations for 2021, CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera has laid out his conditions to stay on.

“If the challenge continues to be technological, giving the teams and drivers what they want, then we are here to do it,” he was quoted by PlanetF1.

“If it becomes a commercial event, we will withdraw. The important thing is that the drivers are more and more at the centre."

Should Pirelli continue their stint as the sole supplier into the next decade, Provera also revealed a move from 13-inch wheels and the introduction of so-called 'smart tyres' would be on the table.

“We showed the 18 inches tyres three years ago [and] I think that if it helps the sporting aspect we are ready also with sensors,” he said to RaceFans, with those sensors embedded inside the tyre to provide real-time information, something that has already begun with their road products.

“We are open, obviously they have to find the right regulations and the teams [need to be] ready to adopt it.

"We obviously need testing cars. They have to develop [different] cars for 18-inch rims as the shock absorption between suspension and tyres, different shoulders, different sizes, everything has to be tested and it takes time.”

Also Read:

• Pirelli open to changing compound naming system after FIA request
• Mercedes keen to address Hypersoft weakness ahead of Canada

Finally, Provera talked up the impact of the more aggressive tyres being used this year though is concerned by one thing.

“The competition this year is generally more lively, and that is good news,” he claimed. “But it is clear that with the increase in the performance of the cars, both with aerodynamics and the tyre, overtaking at narrow circuits has become practically impossible.”

Romain Grosjean has claimed Haas' brake problems, which hampered him since 2016, have been resolved this season despite several mistakes.

The American team had been consistently trialling different set-ups and materials, switching between Brembo and Carbone Industrie, to find a lasting solution to the issues which left the Frenchman sometimes fearful of his safety, with Baku 2017 one such example.

However, as Haas enjoy a stronger start to this year, even if results haven't reflected it, the former Renault and Lotus driver claims the brakes have been important to that.

"I’m loving the brakes we’re running. I haven’t had an issue with them, and the feeling has been perfect. That box is ticked," Grosjean said ahead of the Canadian GP this weekend.

"Braking is key, especially at races like Baku or Monaco. I’ve been very happy, and it allows me to get the best of the car."

That new confidence will be very welcome heading to what is historically the hardest circuit of the year on brakes in Montreal with a number of long straights into slow-speed turns.

"Canada is very hard on the brakes, but our cooling should be better," Romain claimed. "Sometimes you can do some lift-and-coast, especially when the car is full of fuel at the beginning of the race.

"You want to try to save the brakes a bit and not overheat them, so they’re good by the end of the race when you’re trying to push them, or by pit stop time."

Also Read:

• "No chance" Grosjean will be dropped despite crashes - Steiner

Another boost should come from a substantial aero upgrade which had been scheduled for Barcelona but was delayed until this weekend.

"We’ve got quite significant changes – front wing, floor, and all the bargeboard area – we’ve made those updates," confirmed team boss Guenther Steiner.

"Obviously, their aim is to go faster, to gain us speed. A lot of people brought their upgrades to Spain, we decided to bring them to Canada to have a little bit more time because we’re still a small team and cannot react as quickly as the big ones."

Ferrari is also expected to bring updates to their engine which Haas will hope can thrust them back to the head of the midfield.

Renault has admitted McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne is one option they are considering should they need to replace Carlos Sainz for 2019.

Though the French manufacturer is keen to keep the Spaniard beyond this year, his current loan status means should Daniel Ricciardo leave Red Bull at the end of the year, Sainz is the driver many expect to be called up as his replacement.

That means the Enstone team is having to look around to cover the possibility and, despite having failed to meet the hype many had for him alongside Fernando Alonso, the Belgian is still an attractive choice.

"Do not say that Stoffel will join Renault because it is absolutely not the case," Renault Sport managing director Cyril Abiteboul was quoted by F1i.com.

"But he is a driver that we look at. When I wonder about the possible options, I take Vandoorne into consideration."

Renault does have some experience with the 26-year-old as he competed in Formula Renault 3.5 before jumping to GP2 and later Super Formula before finally getting his F1 chance at the beginning of 2017.

Also Read:

• Vandoorne claims McLaren focus on Alonso cost him Monaco points

And despite some recent speculation over his future at McLaren, which Vandoorne insists is safe, Abiteboul does think the potential is there.

"I think his situation is quite difficult. I don't know the ins and outs, but sometimes a change of environment allows a driver to get the oxygen to bounce back," said the Frenchman.

"He was fast, talented, consistent in all of the lower categories and there is no reason for all that to disappear, but when you have Fernando next door it's complicated, especially in McLaren's circumstances of recent years.

"He is a high-level driver that we can look at in the future, depending on how our situation evolves," he concluded.

Former McLaren driver David Coulthard believes Lewis Hamilton will stay on at Mercedes for two more years before retiring in 2020.

The current world champion is in the final year of his current deal with the German manufacturer and despite regularly insisting that an extension is merely a formality, a new contract remains unsigned.

The ex-driver turned pundit for UK broadcaster Channel 4 doesn't think the delay is a sign of Hamilton considering retirement already, however, instead believing he will stay on until the sport potentially faces a huge overhaul.

"I think that he'll go to 2020 which is [the end of] the current Concorde Agreement, the agreement between the commercial rights holder, the FIA and the teams," he said in an interview on BBC's Graham Norton show.

"Beyond 2020 there's every likelihood he may well be releasing his first [music] album which he's been working on."

Also Read:

• What Hamilton told Ricciardo to do with his future after Monaco GP win
• Ex-F1 champion Hill suggests Hamilton could retire after 2018!

Should the 33-year-old re-sign for 2019, that would also please his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas who himself is facing pressure from the likes of Daniel Ricciardo for his seat next season.

“Of course, it would be nice that Lewis stays too, because I enjoy working with him,” the Finn claimed.

“The fact that he was won four championships and me none pushes me to outdo myself. We work well together and that is why I would rather stay with Lewis on this team.”

Former Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve has offered his explanation on why Daniel Ricciardo is currently better than teammate Max Verstappen.

Last weekend in Monaco, it was the Australian who once again produced the goods when needed with a perfect weekend, leading every session, to take his second victory of 2018 and move him into third place in the Drivers' standings.

In contrast, the Dutchman saw his chances of a good result vanish in final practice as a crash at the second part of the Swimming Pool complex saw him miss qualifying with a gearbox problem and start at the back of the grid before making his way back through to P9 on Sunday.

But it was the latest in a string of incidents involving Verstappen this season which has led many to think that Red Bull has backed the wrong driver for their future as the 20-year-old enjoys a big-money deal until 2020 while Ricciardo is out of contract at the end of the year.

"Verstappen makes mistakes in every race. It happens all the time," the outspoken Canadian told Sky Italia. "It's a bad sign. For example, Ricciardo was not at all to blame for their crash in Baku. He did nothing wrong."

After each one of his errors this year many have called on Max to temper his all-out approach but those calls have largely fell on deaf ears, except for Monaco where a conservative race yielded a good result.

However, Villeneuve believes there is another reason why the three-time F1 race winner has been reluctant to change.

"If a driver is constantly making mistakes, he must calm down and slow down. But to be at Ricciardo's level, he has to take more risks," he said. "It can only mean one thing: Max is not as good as Daniel. Full stop!"

Also Read:

• Red Bull chiefs warn Ricciardo against possible 2019 move

Another ex-champion who is less optimistic about Verstappen's future is Nico Rosberg, who told Germany's RTL broadcaster:  “He hasn’t seemed to learn at all. It’s already the fifth time this year but it’s his fourth season in Formula 1.

“You can’t really say it’s inexperience. It’s a very dark moment for Max.

“At the moment everything is going wrong for him but I don’t have much hope for him anymore.”

Renault may not supply Red Bull with the upgraded engine they are set to introduce at this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.

The Milton Keynes outfit is hoping to compare the relative performance of the French manufacturer's unit to Toro Rosso supplier Honda this weekend as they decide which engine to use in 2019.

Even though that would probably please Renault, who have asked for a quick decision by Red Bull, managing director Cyril Abiteboul suggested that because of earlier engine problems in Bahrain and China, giving them the unit could disrupt their supply plan for the season.

"We have yet to confirm the introduction because the mileage is not the same across all cars, so we will see where and when exactly we will introduce that new spec," he explained to Motorsport.com

"I think we have six engines available, subject to the last event on procurement in the supply chain. That's the plan, but not sure it's actually the best to introduce it in all six cars, in particular, Red Bull.

"We need to look into that. We always work in partnership with teams, trying to do the best for the overall season result."

Also Read:

• Red Bull prioritising engine deal over re-signing Ricciardo
• Red Bull incapable of recognising Renault's "loyalty" and "commitment" - Abiteboul

Because the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a power-dominated track with numerous long straights, all four engine suppliers are set to introduce updates which will likely shape the pecking order for the rest of the European season.

That is why Montreal is considered an important race for the championship chances of the top three teams and Abiteboul outlined what Red Bull could expect from Renault if they did receive the updated parts.

"It's a small gain in power, although we know we won't be the only one," he stated. "It's mainly in the ICE that we can expect more power. This has to be the focus, and it will be the focus for all of this year, and maybe next year."

Mercedes face a race against time to find solutions for their problems on the Hypersoft tyre during last weekend's Monaco GP ahead of the next race in Montreal.

Pirelli's softest ever compound made its debut on the streets of Monte Carlo and lived up to that title as it offered great grip, with Daniel Ricciardo setting the first ever 1m10 lap in qualifying, but wasn't particularly durable with Lewis Hamilton the earliest leader to pit after just 12 laps into the total of 78.

The pink-striped rubber will also feature at the Canadian GP in a week's time, where degradation could well be high again on the long straights of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Mercedes know a repeat of Monaco cannot be allowed to happen on a layout which should better suit their car.

"We’ve been doing a fair bit of work on [the Hypersoft] this week," director of trackside operations Andrew Shovlin said. "We saw other people up and down the field in a similar situation, but crucially for us the Red Bull looked stronger, and the Ferrari looked stronger.

"Now we’ve got some pretty good ideas of what went wrong, and we’re going to be doing a bit more work back here to fully understand that because we do need to get on top of that for Montreal.

"We’ve got the same tyres, you could have similar problems, and we need to make sure that we’re not exposed. In Montreal if you lose pace, and you’re suffering degradation, people will pass you very easily."

Of the top three teams, it is perhaps unsurprising to see Mercedes have been the most conservative with the tyre allocations for Canada with just five sets of the Hypersoft compared to eight for Ferrari and Red Bull.

Another regret the team has was failing to identify the performance of the Supersoft tyre earlier during the race in Monaco, as Valtteri Bottas enjoyed the best pace of the top five on that compound while Hamilton struggled with graining on the Ultrasoft.

"We had tried that tyre with Lewis on Thursday, and he’d found it a little bit difficult to generate the grip," Shovlin explained.

"It’s a harder tyre, it needs a bit more work to warm it up. The other thing is we expected the race leaders to go onto the Ultrasoft, so it made sense to have Lewis there on the same tyre.

"If we were running the race again we would have probably gone with the Supersoft with Lewis because it was durable, it was quick, and we saw that with Valtteri, who was having quite an easy time on that tyre to the end of the race."

Fernando Alonso took to Le Mans' Circuit de la Sarthe like a duck to water after topping the timesheets in the official test ahead of the 24-hour race later this month.

The Spaniard is combining his Formula 1 duties at McLaren with a seat at Toyota for the WEC super-season and made a winning start on debut at Spa ahead of what is his main focus, adding a Le Mans win to his resume and complete two legs of motorsport's Triple Crown.

On his first day of driving around the iconic circuit in Northern France, Alonso wouldn't hang around setting a best of 3m19.066s to finish six-tenths up on the next best LMP1 car and was clearly enjoying himself in the process.

“It was a very good day for us as a team,” said the 36-year-old. “We obviously prepared this test in the best way possible before the big race (16/17 June). The car felt good from the first lap and everyone was happy straight away.

“Then it was about getting familiar with the circuit; I have been in the simulator and studied onboard laps from previous years but it’s always different on the real track which feels perfect for these cars. It was an interesting day and a lot of fun.”

Also Read:

• Carlos Sainz Sr. becomes latest name to hint at Alonso/F1 exit
• Alonso & Raikkonen linked with moves away from F1 for 2019
• Alonso comments suggest he is falling out of love with "sad" F1

Meanwhile, back at McLaren, with rumours of an IndyCar team with Alonso at the helm in 2019 continuing, CEO Zak Brown has revealed no talks will take place with the double world champion about his F1 future until the summer.

“I think our situation is the same as everyone’s, it’s a little early in the season," he was quoted by PlanetF1.

“Of course, we’re all talking to our drivers, probably talking to each other’s drivers to a certain extent up and down the pit lane.

“I think that we’re now back in Europe, it’s usually around the summertime that things start really taking shape as far as our conversations with Fernando.

“Just like last year, we decided to wait until about the summer time and I think Fernando will let us know what he wants to do here pretty soon.”

Barely a week after giving Brendon Hartley some backing amid speculation he could be replaced, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko is now painting a bleak picture for the Kiwi.

While Toro Rosso teammate Pierre Gasly has enjoyed two stand-out results, with a P7 in Monaco adding to his P4 in Bahrain, Hartley still only has the single point to his name from Baku since replacing Carlos Sainz at last year's US GP.

Consequently, rumours have risen that despite the high esteem the former WEC champion is held in for his technical knowledge, his lack of points means he will be cut with a number of names suggested.

They include former Sauber drivers Antonio Giovinazzi and Pascal Wehrlein, recent Red Bull tester in Barcelona Jake Dennis, F2 driver Sean Gelael and even Williams reserve Robert Kubica.

“The situation around Brendon is not pleasing,” Marko told Speed Week with Hartley wiped out of the Monaco race by Charles Leclerc after a brake failure.

“We will go through this in peace and see what we can do in the future.”

The 28-year-old expressed surprise at the rumours when asked about them in Monte Carlo last weekend and insists he has a contract in place so does expect to race in Canada next weekend.